The Internet has evolved from primarily a vast repository of reference information to a conduit for electronic commerce. People are able to perform complex banking functions, purchase goods and services, and engage in many other exchanges with businesses or other people using sophisticated websites. This evolution has been fueled in part by increased security in these exchanges and increased behavioral acceptance of sharing personal information (e.g., payment information, etc.) with another party.
Many merchants offer their goods and/or services to consumers via electronic marketplaces (e.g., websites, peer-to-peer systems, etc.). Some merchants may host their own electronic marketplace while others may use a third party to transact goods, such as a host of an auction marketplace. Regardless of a configuration and host of each marketplace, the marketplaces are isolated from one another for various reasons, one of which is an inherent competition between the marketplaces. Another reason, as previously mentioned, is to increase security and privacy of users. Yet another reason is a difficulty in sharing information between hosts that when each host has a unique system (e.g., legacy system) that is inflexible and cannot easily share information.
In many instances, merchants may use a basic transaction model to enable users to purchase, receive or otherwise consume items (e.g., goods or services). For instance, the merchants may provide a platform for users to browse a catalog of items offered by the merchant. This platform may enable users to search for items and view item details. A user may select desired items to inclusion in a virtual shopping cart, which may facilitate a later purchase of the items. Users may then navigate to their shopping cart for a respective merchant when they desire to purchase selected items. The shopping cart may allow the user to add items, adjust quantities, or remove items. Next, the user may enter a checkout process for the items in the shopping cart. In some instances, the checkout process may be hosted by a third party that offers a payment processing system. After a transaction for the items, the merchant initiates fulfillment of the purchased items.
During user interactions with a merchant in an electronic marketplace, the merchant may be able to collect significant amounts of information from the user that may include user preferences of items, payment information, and other user preferences. For example, the merchant may store a purchase history of the user and then, at a later time, offer the user special discounts on items that relate to the user's purchase history. However, this information is constrained to the merchant and interactions with the merchant's electronic marketplace. Users may benefit from a merchant's use of stored information by receiving customized services, special discounts, or other information that is tailored to the user based at least in part on information collected from the user to enable a rich experience from an interaction between the user and the merchant.